History of the Donner Party takes you straight into the most terrifying tragedy of American western emigration. "More thrilling than romance, more terrible than fiction, the sufferings of the Donner Party form a bold contrast to the joys of pleasure-seekers who to-day look down upon the lake from the windows of silver palace cars," writes McGlashan. In 1846 the Donner Party emigrated across the American prairies toward California. A trip already fraught with adversity worsened when the decision to take Hastings Cutoff proved fatal. A snowstorm trapped close to ninety wagons in the Sierra Nevada, and those who survived divulged horrific stories

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